Portugal needs immediate action against emergency, says UN rapporteur
Portugal is one of the religious leaders in the association of the human right to a healthy environment. But the country needs fast and urgent to face an urgent emergency.
The statement is by the Special Rapporteur* for Human Rights and the Environment, David Boyd.
Country lost 110,000 hectares of forests in summer fires
This Tuesday, he ended a nine-day visit to Portugal, where he saw up close the effects of several forest fires and the drought that affected the country in the last summer months.
Boyd recalls that more than 1,000 in Portugal this year are linked to the heat wave in the country, which lost 110,000 hectares of forests because of forest fires.
In your declaration, the legal rapporteur made the management of children responsible for the green economy, the legal system envisaged, the legal rights for the solid waste transition and the transition to a sustainable economy.
David Boyd praised what he called a “very robust legal framework for the protection of human rights and the environment, from the pioneering provisions of the 1976 Constitution (Article 66) Climate to the new Basic Law”.
Huge solar and wind potential that must be harnessed
Portugal also closes coal-based power plants and has expanded access to drinking water by 99% in addition to an Environmental Fund with more than 1.1 billion euros this year.
For the rapporteur now of all special features, the setting must be adjusted for managing all weather features.
The Portuguese-speaking nation has enormous solar potential, but it ranks 13th. European Union listing on solar-based electricity generation. Already the world wind energy has money only12, in the rest of the middle of this media20%.
Low-income Portuguese and energy-inefficient buildings
In the European Union, Portugal lags behind in recharge rates and climate well in urban areas. Many low-income Portuguese still live in buildings that are not energy efficient.
The rapporteur for accreditation that eucalyptus plantations are another problem for Portugal, which will replace crops with more fire-resistant species such as “oak, cork oak and chestnut”, or which would alter the country’s natural landscape in certain regions.
David Boyd as the mines whose measures have still been implemented, whose operations operate to their most environmental standards and respect human rights.
Serra da Estrela, Nature Reserve and Youth
The Special Rapporteur visited Porto, Covilhã, Serra da Estrela, Boticas, Covas do Barroso and the Dunas de São Jacinto Nature Reserve. Wherever he went, he talked to the youth, that he is critical of the crisis for you. He asked young people to be on the wheels of decisions to be carried out as in their future.
David Boyd also met with Portuguese and local authorities, civil representatives, academia and the UN society in the country.
He is due to report to the Human Rights Council in March next year.
*Human rights rapporteurs are independent from the United Nations and do not receive a salary for their work..